Butterflies
by risingmo0n
Summary: Prompt for DJWifi to miraculous-prompt-trash.: Nino has a crush and enlists the help of his best buddy, Adrien, to confess.
1. Chapter 1

"Alright, dude, I'm totally gonna do it." Nino whispered, leaning closer to his best friend and deskmate.

"You got this, man!" Adrien quietly said back, pumping his fist to show his encouragement. Nino nodded and smiled in acknowledgement as the two boys pumped fists behind their raised books.

Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and just like that all of Nino's previous courage was wiped away, replaced with what he could only describe as a serious case of the butterflies. His stomach felt like it was doing parkour tricks off his ribcage, his heart racing like he had just been running a marathon, his palms beginning to sweat profusely. This was a stupid idea, who thought of this stupid idea, this was never going to work.

"Dude? Helloooo?" Adrien waved a hand in front of Nino's face, noticing the complete 180 in his friends demeanor. As he waited for his friend to return to this planet, Adrien saw the objective of the boys earlier ramblings already on her way out the door. "Nino, look! Alya's leaving! It's now or never!"

Snapping back to reality, Nino saw exactly that. The girl he'd been secretly pining for, the object of all his day dreams, walking out of their last class of the day, completely engrossed in a conversation with her best friend by her side. Quickly, he jumped out of his seat, jogging the few steps between his desk and the front door to the classroom and hoping, praying, that he had enough nerve to open his mouth when he got there.

"A-Alya! Wait!" Nino called out, hoping she didn't hear the stupid stutter in his stupid voice. _Be cool, be suave, be like Chat Noir!_ he thought, steeling himself as both girls turned around at the door.

"What's up, Nino?" Alya asks, her hazel green eyes locking with his own brown ones, her hair twisting around her face as she turned, the red ends looking just a little more vibrant in the sunlight seeping in from outsi— _Focus, Nino!_

"U-Uhh…I, uh, was thinking…" Nino practically felt his courage seep out of him the longer he kept eye contact with her. He could feel his nerves causing his hands to shake already. He was making a fool of himself _in front of her_.

"Yess?" Alya probed, waiting for Nino to finish his thought, wondering what had the boy in such a fit, but as she raised an eyebrow at the situation, she couldn't help but spare a glance to Marinette, hoping for some clarity, only to have the girl shrug in response.

Quickly, Adrien swooped in behind his buddy, jabbing him once in the side with his elbow to try and give a jumpstart to the file that was currently not responding.

"Later! I-I mean, I was wondering are you doing anything later?" Nino felt his face begin to heat up now that he'd finally gotten the question out there. Well, that, and for that good minute he went comatose in front of her.

"Oh, yea! I've got a ton of backlog submissions for the Ladyblog I need to catch up on. These past few days haven't really given me enough time to go through them as I'd have liked." Alya immediately flew into talking about all the new fans that have been flocking to her blog this week thanks to a very particular and widely televised Akuma battle.

"Oh, yea, dude, that's cool. Sounds like you'll be pretty busy this weekend, huh?" Nino couldn't hold back the disappointment in his voice, unable to keep eye contact with her as he had before, voting to instead find his shoes super interesting. "Nah, it's cool. Have a nice weekend." And with that, he turned back towards his desk to gather his things and prepare to leave, Adrien following after him despite already having his school bag slung over his shoulder.

Alya and Marinette exchanged glances, both filled with confusion of their mutual friends behaviors, before they both turned to leave, walking down the metal stairs leading to the courtyard and out of the school building in complete silence. It wasn't till they were a good block away from the school that Marinette decided to break the silence.

"You know, I think Nino might have been asking you out. Like, on a date!" Marinette exclaimed, gesturing with her hands how big of a deal that seemed to her. Alya cocked an eyebrow from behind her glasses and gave her best friend a sideways glance.

"Puh-lease! Nino and I are buds! He probably wanted to invite us to some sweet DJ gig he got or something." Alya giggles a little to herself as she thinks back to all the times she and Marinette had been dragged to some backyard rave to watch Nino "play". Marinette, not convinced in the slightest, was about to counter her friends dismissal of the topic when her phone beeped, making her aware that she had a text message.

Confused as to who could be texting her, she quietly took out her phone from her bag, making sure that Tikki wasn't revealed in the process, and promptly chocked when she saw who the message was from. There, on her screen, was Adrien's face, and Adrien's number, with a small little red icon beside it with the number "1", signaling one unread message. One unread text message. From Adrien. To Marinette. On her phone. Had hell just frozen over?

While Marinette was running through all the scenarios of why her super-secret crush could be texting her, one of them being the world was coming to an end and he needed to confess his undying love for her, her phone beeped again, now displaying a number "2" in the field beside his name. Yup, dead.

At this point, the poor girl's body had stopped functioning and left her standing in the middle of the sidewalk while her best friend continued on ahead unknowingly. It wasn't till Marinette was a good 10 paces behind her that Alya finally noticed her friend had stopped walking as she stared at her phone like it was trying to suck her soul out of her eyes.

"Is everything ok, girl?" Alya asked. Was there something in the water today? Why was everyone acting so _weird_?!

"Uhh…" Marinette wanted to tell her friend what she was looking at, hell, she wanted to show the world that Adrien Agreste was texting _her_ , but she couldn't get her mind to work right. She hadn't even read the first message, and now there were two! Swiping the screen to the right, effectively opening the messages, Marinette quickly read through them, imprinting every word to memory for her future ' _how your father and I met_ ' story she'd tell their future kids.

 **A-** _Hey Marinette! It's Adrien, from class. I got your number from Nino, hope you don't mind._

Oh, Nino. Dear, sweet, lovely, beautiful Nino. She'd have to bake him his favorite chocolate bread as a gift. Maybe 20 loaves would be enough to pay him back for this?

 **A-** _So, not sure if you noticed earlier, but Nino really wants to ask Alya out on a date, but he gets all clammed up around her. Think you can help me out?_

Marinette mentally pumped her fist in the air. She knew it! Nino was trying to ask her out on a date! He totally has feelings for her. Wait a minute, did Adrien just ask for her to help him?

Suddenly snapping back to the real world, Marinette flung her head up, pulling her eyes from her phone and noticing Alya had been waiting for her with a very confused, very concerned look on her face. Marinette knew she had to keep this plot secret from her best friend, she knew if Alya found out, she'd just brush it off again saying that Adrien was ' _just meddling_ '. Alya placed a hand on her hip, leaning her weight onto one foot as she looked on at her friend with worry.

"Everything alright?" She asked again, figuring the first time she'd asked probably falling on deaf ears.

Marinette quickly hid her phone behind her back, raising her other hand to rub the back of her head nervously, her eyes closing as she smiled big.

"Hm? Oh, nothing! Just Mama wanting to make sure I knew I had to clean my room once I got home." Marinette said while giggling, trying to hide her nervousness over the text messages with a coverup of having been scolded by her mom. At first, she worried Alya wasn't going to buy it since when she opened one of her eyes to peek on her reaction, her friend was making that look that said ' _girl, I know that isn't what's going on here_ ', but whether she believed it or not, she shrugged it off and accepted that it was all she was going to get for the time being.

"Okay, well, I'm heading this way. Talk to you later?" Alya wondered silently to herself if she'd be able to get the truth from her tonight if she sprung it on her unsuspecting friend at the right time.

"Of course! See you!" Marinette waved enthusiastically, wasting not time in turning on her heels and running down the street that would lead her to the bakery. She had to get home quickly and reply to Adrien.

—

After a quick greeting to her parents, and using the excuse that she wanted to get a head start on her weekend homework, Marinette ran straight up to her room, closing the hatch that lead down into the rest of the house immediately.

"Oh my god, Tikki! Adrien texted me! ME!" The girl squealed and did a little happy dance while she clenched her phone to her chest while the little red kwami shot out from inside her bag.

"I know! That's great, Marinette! What did he say?" Tikki's little voice sounding like bell's in the wind as she buzzed around her charge as she danced around the room.

"He needs my help! ME!" Marinette squealed again. The jumping around her room was only interrupted when she'd dance in one place, staring at her phone in disbelief while giggling happily to herself.

"Well then, don't you think you should respond to him?" Tikki pointed out, having given up trying to keep up with the young teen and taken a seat on the desk by her computer. Her question caused Marinette to freeze in place. Respond? She hadn't thought about that. Judging from his last message, he was expecting some sort of response from her, but her track record when it came to carrying on a conversation when this boy was involved wasn't exactly something to be proud of. Suddenly, all her excitement over the text messages turned to dread as she looked at her phone like it had just betrayed her trust.

"Oh no. Tikki, what do I do? I can't _respond_ to Adrien! You know how I am!" Marinette turned to her kwami for help, panicking now as she realized she hadn't sent any kind of response to the blonde boy. What if he was waiting for a response? What if since she'd taken so long, he saw her lack of a response as her brushing off his request for her help? What if he never talked to her again?

Tikki giggled to herself, watching as her charges mind spun more and more out of control. Quickly, so as not to lose her forever in a pit of sorrow, Tikki spoke up.

"It's ok, Marinette! You can do it! I'll help." the little kwami floated over to Marinette, landing on her shoulder and patting her cheek affectionately. Her presence alone helped improve the teen's mood, watching as the girl smiled to herself and gave a slight nod. She wasn't in this alone, she could do it. She had to. For Alya.

"Right! Ok." Marinette took a deep breath, sitting on her swivel chair and holding the phone at arms length like a bomb that could explode at any moment. "Right…" she repeated herself, this time with less enthusiasm as the first. She stared at the dark screen of her phone for a few moments more before turning quizzical eyes to her red companion.

"Unlock the phone, Marinette." Tikki sighed to herself, Marinette looking more like a lost child than a super hero who saved Paris on a daily basis. With careful concentration, Marinette unlocked her phone, the previous screen coming to life again in her hands, the two messages from Adrien still very visible and very un-answered.

"How about asking what he had in mind?" Tikki offered, trying her best to lead the girl rather than just giving her the answers. Marinette immediately started typing her response, nearly copying word for word what Tikki had said. Then, with only a slight quiver in her hand, she hit send, holding the phone up above her head as she did, like she was making an offering to the gods.

"There, see! That wasn't so bad." the kwami assured the girl, tapping her once again on her cheek for a job well done. There was no knowing when the boy would see the message or wether he'd reply again or not, but this was a huge step for Marinette and despite the emotional roller coaster ride, Tikki was proud. Marinette started to lower her arms, finally starting to relax for the first moment since she'd received the first message what seemed like hours ago only to have the moment cut short by the beep of her phone.

Adrien replied.

The screen was still unlocked, so the message immediately was visible to the Ladybug duo, he hadn't taken long at all.

 **A-** _Does that mean you're on board? Great! But I'm not really sure how to proceed. I thought about making a reservation for the two and having it be a surprise, but I don't think Alya would fall for that._

Marinette giggled at the last part of the message. She could just imagine the accusatory look on her best friends face at the setup. She wouldn't fall for it for one second. Without even thinking, her fingers were already typing her response, hitting send without realizing exactly what was going on.

 **M-** _Yea, Alya would see through that in a heartbeat. It's going to be hard to get one past her. I still have a hard time with it._

 **A-** _How would you go about it?_

Marinette sat back in her chair, her hand coming up to rub at her chin while she thought about how exactly she'd gotten Alya to go along with her in the past. There was the time she'd dragged her to the museum using the pretense that she'd learned something new about Ladybug, but she doubted if that would work so well a second time.

Tikki, still perched on her shoulder, watched with silent pride at how well Marinette had been handling the conversation so far. She'd responded all on her own and without the spasms like before. She knew the girl just needed to familiarize herself more with the boy she pined for and she'd eventually be able to carry on a conversation with him. Just then, a wonderful idea came to the little fairy. Excitedly, she flew over to hover just in front of Marinette's face, her little face all lit up with joy.

"Marinette, why not have all four of you go together?" Tikki proclaims, not waiting to see if her charge was even paying attention to her. Marinette let out a little strangled noise, her eyes widening as the idea sunk in.

"M-Me? Go on a d-d-double d-date with Adrien?!" Marinette squeaked, her voice growing in octave with each passing word, her stutter caused by her whole body shaking.

"Yea! That way Alya wouldn't be the wiser and Nino could have the courage of his friends being nearby." The more Tikki thought about the idea, the better it was sounding. It fit everyone's needs perfectly, even one of sweet little Marinette's deepest darkest fantasies.

Marinette was about to tell Tikki how she must be out of her little bug mind when her phone beeped, again, signaling yet another text message. The phone was back into it's locked position, showing just how long she'd been thinking this over.

 **A-** _Marinette?_

 **M-** _Sorry! I was thinking about the 2 of us going out together._

Marinette hit send before she realized what she'd typed. It was like her word regurgitation problem she had when she was in front of him, but now it was concrete, forever stuck as evidence in her text message history. She was doomed.

Ding goes the phone that would be the final nail in her coffin.

 **A-** _That's a great idea!_

Wait, what? Marinette stared in disbelief at the latest message. Had Adrien just acknowledged that the two of them ' _going out_ ' was a ' _great idea_ '? Is this real? Had she really died earlier and gone to heaven? Before she could think too deeply on the subject, another beep pulled her from her thoughts.

 **A-** _How about this Sunday?_

"YES!" Marinette jumped up from her chair and screamed, holding her phone only inches from her face. This couldn't be happening, a date with Adrien on Sunday! This had to be a dream. A date. With the boy she's loved all year. Marinette began dancing around her room again, singing a song she didn't know the tune to, but didn't care, everything was great. Ding goes the sweet, sweet sound of her precious phone that has taken the role of cupid and united her with her true love.

 **A-** _Do you think Alya will be suspicious if we meet up at Jardin des Tuileries?_

Wait, Alya? Marinette's euphoria was suddenly cut short as a she realized what had happened. She had slipped up in her previous message, that was for certain, the evidence still very clear in her text history, but Adrien hadn't read her message as she'd intended it. Instead of reading as ' _You and I going out together on a date_ ', the true meaning behind her message, he'd read it as ' _You and I going along with Alya and Nino on THEIR date_ '. She couldn't let herself feel depressed over this. It was her own misunderstanding of his meaning, after all. With a heavy heart, Marinette replied.

 **M-** _Sunday will be great. I'll find a way to explain it to Alya so she won't be suspicious._

 **A-** _Great! How about we plan to meet at the fountain at 10?_

 **M-** _Sounds great._

Feeling the conversation end, Marinette locked her phone and sat on her lounge, hanging her head and trying to calm herself down from the previous excitement. She'd felt the highest of highs only to have all her hopes and dreams dashed in an instant. It was ok, though, she could do this. For Alya. For her best friend. For the girl that was always so selfless with her and dealing with her clumsiness and her obsessive infatuation with a boy she could barely say hello to without falling all over herself.

With a heavy sigh, Marinette lifted herself off of her lounge and made her way over to her discarded books on her desk, getting ready to settle down and preoccupy her mind with some homework. Tomorrow, she'd spring the idea on Alya that she needed to come with her on a trip to the famous public garden under the pretense that she needed inspiration for some new design. That should work.

Right as she cracked the spine on the first book, her phoned dinged. Without a second thought, she reached over and unlocked the screen only to see that the message was, again, from Adrien.

 **A-** _Thanks, Marinette. Really. See you Sunday!_

With a smile on her face, Marinette locked the phone and placed it back on her desk, feeling a small bit of warmth beginning to spread in her chest.

"Well, at least I'll get to spend the day with Adrien." She said to Tikki, giggling happily before burying herself in her homework.


	2. Chapter 2

Alya sat beside her best friend on the bus, scrolling through the submissions fans had made to the Ladyblog. There were so many and it seemed like she'd never make a dent in the numbers at this rate. She had planned on spending the entire weekend glued to her computer in her room, cranking out posts and answering as many questions and requests as she could until a certain black haired friend of hers called her up practically begging her to accompany her on one of her ' _inspiration seeking adventures_ '.

Alya sighed. She really needed to learn how to say no to that girl. Noticing movement to her left, Alya peeks out of the corner of her eye. Marinette had been fidgeting the entire day, seeming both excited and nervous for the trip to one of the more famous gardens in Paris, but as their bus grew nearer to their destination, the girl seemed downright _sick_. Her hands were fumbling with her phone, her eyes trained on it like she was waiting for it explode or sprout legs and run away from her. Earlier in the ride, she had received a text message that made her jump and squeak loudly, quickly checking the message before locking her phone and continuing her nervous behavior.

"So…" Alya started, noticing her friend jump at sudden break in their shared silence. "What kind of project are you working on this time? And why the ' _Jardin des Tuileries_ '? That place is like the biggest tourist attraction around, girl."

Marinette's fidgeting intensified.

"Oh, uh, you know, just needed a change of scenery. And besides, the ' _Jardin des Tuileries_ ' is supposed to be very beautiful this time of the year, all the flowers in bloom and I hear it's warm enough that they opened the ferris wheel." Marinette said while avoiding eye contact, laughing quickly to try and end the series of questions before her nerves threatened to choke her to death. Of course, Alya wasn't buying any of it.

"Uh-huh." Was all she said, turning her attention to the passing scenery outside the window, watching as all the tightly spaced buildings gave way to more luxurious, historical buildings until finally, only about 3 blocks ahead, she could see the wide open spaces of the main entrance to the garden.

 _This is going to be a long day._ Alya thought to herself. With another sigh, she began packing up her things, putting her phone in her back and clasping it shut before repositioning the strap back onto her shoulder.

—

"Dude, calm down, Marinette says they're not going to be here for another 20 minutes." Adrien tried to calm his anxious friend as he paced back and forth in front of the main fountain near the entrance.

"And you're sure Alya's with her? Oh man, oh man." Nino stopped his pacing to pull his hat off his head and frantically run his fingers through his short hair, offsetting his glasses in the process. With a gasp, he turned to his friend, distraught. "What if she didn't come? What if she knew I was going to be here and she—"

"Relax. Marinette already said she's with her." Adrien assured comfortingly. The blond couldn't help but snicker at how his best friend looked at the moment; short hair sticking up all over, his glasses askew to one side, his hat in his hand, and his shirt's hem had clear wrinkles in it from where he'd been ringing his hands just moments ago.

Adrien could see that his words weren't going to calm his friend down. With a soft smile, he got up from his seat on the edge of the fountain and walked to stand next to his bud, resting his hand on his worried friends shoulder.

"Dude, you're a wreck. Alya is coming and she's gonna love that you're here. Really. Trust me, I have a knack for these kinds of things." Adrien said, giving his friend a supportive wink at the end to more emphasize his point. Despite himself, Nino laughed, finally feeling that knot between his shoulders relax for the first time since he got the call yesterday detailing the whole plan.

 _Knack for these things? Dude, you can't even tell Mari's into you, and she's so obvious!_ Nino thought, letting his smile stay as he returned the comforting gesture and putting an arm around Adrien's shoulders.

Adrien was a real pal, trying to soothe his worries like he was. The least Nino could do was not drown himself in the fountain before the girls arrived.

Just as he was starting to relax and breath, the sound of a bus opening it's doors sounded behind them, the driver announcing over the loud speaker that they had arrived at the entrance to the park. And suddenly there she was. Getting off the bus first with a nervous and shaky Marinette following closely behind. She wore a very casual baggy black t-shirt that had been tucked in to the front of her white shorts, her sneakers having been swapped for black boots, no heel, with a wide cuff at the ankle. Nino couldn't see any noticeable socks on her legs, but wow, that was a lot of leg.

He was starting to rethink that the whole ' _drowning himself in the fountain_ ' idea might be the way to go.

Before he could figure out the details, though, Adrien was already waving down the female duo, one hand planted firmly on Nino's shoulder, probably to prevent him from bolting. Smart boy.

Alya heard her name shouted over the roar of the nearby fountains and overall noise of the masses, turning her head to scan the crowds till she spotted a very excited Adrien swinging his arm above his head wildly and a very sick looking Nino by his side. Just then, everything clicked very neatly into place.

With one swift movement, Alya turned on her friend grabbing her by the arm and dragging her behind the closest pamphlet stand, effectively hiding themselves from the boys view.

"Ahh! A-Alya…?" Marinette cried out, allowing herself to be dragged away, her self-preservation instincts telling her if she tried to retaliate, she probably wouldn't survive the encounter to come. She was probably right.

"Marinette, exactly what is going on here? Hm?" Alya asked, a smile on her face and a certain sickly sweet tone to her voice. She pulled off the ' _I'm not angry at all_ ' look nearly perfectly, if it wasn't for the irritated twitch in her right eye.

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about?" Marinette tried feebly to play dumb, usually something she was great at, but with her nerves all but shot from the effort it took just to get herself here, she knew she wasn't going to convince anyone.

"Girl, girl, girl! You can't keep doing this to me! Seriously! What's with all the lies?" Alya asks, now having lost most of her anger over the situation and just downright upset that her own best friend had been plotting something behind her back! Was she not an understanding friend? Had she given her best friend some sort of reason to not trust her? To resort to lying to her?

"Nonono! I didn't mean—I mean, I did, but I never wanted to—I didn't think—" Panicky, Marinette tried to explain her train of thought, but realizing she didn't know how to begin or even where to start, she decided to go with the one thing that she did know. For certain. "Adrien asked for my help! I couldn't say no!"

Overcome with regret at her own weakness, and for practically betraying her best friend for a chance to spend the day with a boy, Marinette hung her head, pulling her shoulders in on herself. Seeing how distraught her friend had become, and knowing full well how she could be around their blond classmate, she sighed loudly before pulling the girl into a tight hug across the shoulders.

"Yea, I guess I couldn't expect you to say no to Adrien, of all people." Alya smiled slightly as she felt her friend slowly return the hug. "Sorry I got mad."

"Sorry I lied to you." With both feeling better over the whole ordeal, Alya released her friend from the hug, but kept her hands on her shoulders, a stern look replacing her relaxed happy smile for a brief moment. She had to make sure her point was made before she let this go.

"But jeez, girl! You could have warned me!"

At that, Marinette giggled as she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

"Yea, sorry, sorry!" She said, smiling.

The two were back to their comfortable atmosphere before they came out from hiding behind the pamphlet stand, Alya's arm around Marinette's shoulders, as they walked together towards the boys.

When the girls had pulled their sudden disappearing act, Adrien had worried that maybe the jig was up, but when they reappeared a few moments later, both smiling as they made their way over, he saw no reason to raise the alarm. He let his natural smile split his face again as he waved at them, Alya returning the wave with a smile of her own while Marinette seemed overly nervous. Maybe they were caught? He'd have to get her alone to ask her.

"Hey guys!" Alya greeted cheerfully, her free hand coming up to grab at her bag strap as she removed her arm from Marinette's shoulders.

"Hey Alya." Adrien replied, turning his gaze to Marinette and, with a wink, giving her an extra big smile. "Hey Marinette."

"H-Hi Adrien!" Marinette's voice came out an octave higher than expected and little louder than she'd planned, a blush starting to blossom across her face and down her neck. Quickly, she turned to Nino. "Hi Nino!" Trying to play off her previously loud greeting, she made sure to greet Nino with just as much enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, the greeting fell on deaf ears. The poor speckled boy was in a state of shock as he stared blankly at Alya. What was he doing?! He'd never been this bad before! All the classes they had together and all the times they'd hung out when their respective best friends ditched them. Why now? Why all of a sudden was he unable to even function around her?

Sure, for the past few months, every dream he'd had, waking or sleep, had starred her as the main love interest. And yea, you could say he'd been paying extra special attention to her lately, noticing all the little things he'd somehow missed before. Like how she tucks her hair behind her right ear when she's concentrating, or how she'd shake her head slightly whenever she found something cute or embarrassing, or how her face would light up whenever she talked about Ladybug or her blog.

He was totally 100% completely head of heels in love with the girl. And doomed. Definitely doomed.

"Uh. Nino?" Marinette looked on as the boy continued to stare at Alya without moving. It was starting to go from cute, to worrisome. Sadly, she wasn't the only one noticing the awkwardness as both Alya and Adrien were starting to key in on the boy's frozen state.

"Dude?" Adrien whispered, trying to snap his friend out of his trance before he scared the girls away. When his attempt got no response, panicked, he looked to Marinette, a silent plea for help in his eyes. To all their surprise, though, Alya was the one to step up to the challenge, literally. She started walking forward on what appeared to be a collision course with the motionless boy.

"Come on, Nino." Alya said loudly, turning at the last second to avoid bumping directly into the boy and instead hooking an arm with his and dragging him backwards as she continued her pace forwards.

"H-Hi Alya!" Nino shouted before losing his balance, flailing as he tried to stay semi-upright and walk backwards at the same time, attempting to keep pace with the steadfast girl.

Marinette and Adrien watched stunned as the two steadily made their way further into the park. Adrien, grateful that Nino was finally alive and speaking again, took that time to notice just how great a couple those two would make. Only someone as strong as Alya would be able to keep somebody like his best friend in check. Speaking of which.

"Marinette, were we caught?" Adrien leans over closer to the remaining girl, whispering despite the distance between the two groups. Startled by his abrupt close proximity, Marinette squeaked loudly, flailing her arms in an attempt to put a bit of space between the two, a nice, comfortable ' _don't pull a Nino'_ amount of space.

"Ah! Uh, wha-what?" Marinette stutters, realizing that despite the personal space difference, Adrien had said something.

"The plan! Did Alya find out?" Adrien asked again, starting to grow accustom to her spas sessions and not getting effected by her jumpiness. When he wasn't busy worrying about his best friends love life, he'd really need to try and figure out what it was about himself that made Marinette so scared of him.

"Oh! Uh, no, I mean, maybe?" Averting her gaze up to the sky, giving her mind a much needed reprieve from starring at an angel for too long, she thought harder on how Alya had reacted when they'd first gotten off the bus. Was Alya aware of their true intentions? No, she'd definitely figured out something was up, but she very well could have chalked it up to Marinette wanting to go on a date with Adrien, even if the best friends were chaperoning.

"No, I don't think so. She suspects something, but I don't think it's that." Marinette says with more confidence, still avoiding eye contact till she was completely done with her thought.

Adrien signed a breath of relief. He dared not say anything around Nino, but he was just as nervous as he was about the whole thing going off without a hitch. He knew what it was like to have an unrequited love always right at your fingertips, yet always unreachable.

"That's good. Come on, we should probably catch up to them." He motioned for her to walk with him as he started to move in the direction that Alya and Nino had headed. Waiting for Marinette to join him, he noticed how she always held herself just a few steps back so that they were obviously walking together, but not side by side. Adrien began to alter his pace to match hers only to find that she'd done the same to keep the standings unchanging.

He really needed to find out why she was so scared of him.

 _One problem at a time, Adrien. Focus on saving Nino first!_ Adrien thought, shoving his hands into his pockets as he prepared himself for damage control.

—

Alya and Nino were a good distance away from the two stragglers, already having passed the fountains positioned by the main entrance and now were heading down one of the long walkways lined with flower bushes and perfectly shaped shrubs.

Nino, still walking backwards with his arm securely trapped underneath Alya's, was starting to feel a cramp growing in the back of his calfs. As much as he didn't want to let go of the contact, he needed to take a breather.

"A-Alya, do you—do you think we could, maybe, slow down or something?" He said, trying his best for calm and casual and hitting more in the tired and dimwitted section.

"Can you believe her? I swear, hiding things from me. And why'd she even hide it? It's not like she hasn't told me _everything_ when it comes to Adrien before." It seemed that instead of gaining her attention, Nino had awakened the beast. Popped the top on the volcano, so to speak.

"And not to say that I'm jealous, cause I'm not, but why'd she have to lie to me? I mean, we've been best friends for, like, ever!" Suddenly, a horrible thought entered Alya's head that she wished should could forget. Stopping dead in her tracks, she released Nino's arm, not even turning around as he fell unceremoniously to the ground on his butt, groaning in pain from the harsh treatment on his sore muscles.

"Is it me?" Quietly, almost a whisper, Alya lifted her hand up to her mouth, almost afraid of speaking the words aloud.

"Huh?" Nino asks, rubbing his sore legs while he takes his much need sit break at her feet. Turning on her heel, she bent down till she was eye level with Nino, bending only at the waist so that she still seemed accidentally intimidating.

"Nino, is it me? Am I not trustworthy? Am I a…bad friend?" Alya stood up straight at that remark. Was she? She'd been thinking about it all morning. Something seemed off. It had for a while, but what? Had she made some sort of weird remark around her friends for them to treat her so differently? Her Ladybug obsession had been in overdrive ever since that last Akuma attack, was that it?

"No no no! No way, dude! You're one of the most dedicated, trustworthy, and totally awesome friends I know!" Nino practically threw himself off the ground when he realized where Alya's mindset was going. There was no way this angel was going to think bad of herself, especially when it most certainly wasn't true. And partially his fault. He knew Marinette and Adrien were doing all this for him, so that he could have enough courage to just come out and tell her how he feels, but instead, she took their secretiveness for distrust in her. Totally uncool.

At Nino's boasting compliment, Alya could feel herself smiling a little, the place inside her chest that had tightened up over the course of her tangent slowly starting to relax and even feel a little bit warm? That was new.

"Thanks, Nino." Alya said, her smile growing as she saw how her uplifted mood lit up Nino's face.

"Of course! Anytime you need a dose of this awesomeness, you let me know." Nino couldn't catch himself before the words were already out of his mouth. Who does he think he's flirting with? Alya's not going to go for that kind of line. Stupid mouth. Stupid brain.

But to his surprise, Alya laughed. She wasn't rolling in the streets in hysterics, but her small chuckle had his chest warming up to the point where he could feel it spreading up his neck and face.

"I'll be sure to keep you on speed dial." She said between giggles, her eyes closed or else she would have been shocked at how red her friends face had just become.

Nino felt like he'd died and gone to heaven. Was that Alya _flirting back_? Was this all because he'd flirted first? Oh beautiful mouth, beautiful brain.

Just then, Alya's phone beeps, alerting her of a text message. Without a second thought, she reaches into her bag and grabs her phone, unlocking immediately after seeing the familiar selfie of her best friend on her notifications list. Sure enough, one new message from Marinette.

 **M-** _Where are you guys? We've been looking everywhere and you leftmealonewithAdrien!_

 **AC-** _Calm down, girl. We'll come to you. Where you at?_

After sending the reply, she gave herself a second to snicker at the last part of Marinette's message. Poor girl's nerves must be fried at this point. God knows she can't be within a 10 foot radius of the boy and not become an absolute wreck.

 **M-** _Adrien suggested we ride the ferris wheel._

Alya's eyes grew large as she read the latest message. Before she even had a second to type a word in response, though, she received a follow up message.

 **M-** _TO FIND YOU! HIGHER GROUND! I SWEAR!_

Yup. Absolute wreck.

 **AC-** _Chill. We're not far from the ferris wheel. We'll meet you there._

 **M-** _Please hurry._

After giving herself another moment to chuckle over the conversation, she put her phone back in her bag and finally looked back up at Nino who was trying to make himself scarce while standing directly in front of her, hands in his pockets and eyes to the sky.

 _Dork._ Alya thinks, laughing as she spotted the ferris wheel just above Nino's right shoulder. They really weren't that far, one to two minutes, tops.

"Welp, we better go save our friends." Alya said, placing her hands on her hips to make a big show of having to rush off to save the damsel in distress.

"Oh, uh, sure." Nino said, startled. He hadn't expected Alya to bounce back so quickly from their earlier conversation, but that was the effect Marinette had on her. And people in general, for that matter. It was just impossible to be sad around the girl.

As Alya lead the way, she gave Nino the readers digest version of the conversation she'd had with Marinette. Which somehow lead into them talking about the Ladybug, to which Nino quietly relinquished the reigns over the conversation and was more than content to just sit back and watch as the budding reporter practically glowed from the inside out.

The two minute walk to the ferris wheel flew by and before they'd realized, they had somehow managed to end up in line to board the suspended cars themselves. This time it was Nino's turn to get a text from Adrien, explaining that they had entered a car of their own and were nearing the top as he typed.

"Why don't we wait for them down here? They should be getting off soon." Nino suggested, trying to seem nonchalant about how badly he wanted to ride the ferris wheel with her. While the idea of being in a small cramped space with the girl of his dreams thrilled him, it also instilled a good amount of cold dread that he'd literally be _in a small cramped space with the girl of his dreams_.

"Nah, it's ok. They can wait for us. Look, we're next!" Alya said, tugging on Nino's arm to drag him up the platform as they boarded the most recently emptied car.

Alya practically bounced into the car, taking a seat on the left hand side as she spun around to look out the window behind her, Nino moving to sit opposite of her. As the door closed and latched, Nino felt that cold feeling starting to seep up from his toes, causing his knees to shake and his stomach to do flips.

 _Please, oh please, don't let me make a fool of myself now!_ Nino silently begged. As the car lurched forward, he felt like he was going to be sick, but pride kept his stomach contents in check and he at least could be grateful for that.

Alya, on the other hand, was too busy looking out the windows as the car began to make it's slow decent upwards, taking out her phone again to snap a picture or two whenever she'd get a particularly sweet view of the gardens below. As they neared the top, Alya got an amazingly awesome idea and, without a word, got up from her seat and moved to sit beside Nino.

With a heavy thump, Alya plopped down onto the space beside Nino, effectively shaking the car so it rocked from side to side. Nino felt those double-crossing stomach contents start to bubble up again, and this time he wasn't sure his pride was going to be enough. He was almost too queasy to notice Alya's close proximity. Almost. Granted, she made it kind of hard, her leg flush with his from her knee to her hip, her shoulder brushing his arm as she moved to raise her arms in front of her, holding the phone out with the camera option turned on.

"Selfie!" She proclaimed, hitting the button multiple times and probably catching all stages of Nino's bewilderment from sick to his stomach, to shock, to awe, to cheesey forced smile. Once she lowered her arms and began reviewing her new collection, a sudden beep caught both of them off guard, but it was coming from Nino's phone this time. Another text message from Adrien.

 **A-** _Hey man, Marinette's not feeling well. I think the ride made her sick. We're gonna find a place to sit down._

While Alya read over Nino's shoulder, causing Nino to have to read the text message twice before it actually computed in his mind, she gave a quiet gasp once she finished.

"Oh no, poor girl. It was probably too much for her, being so close to Adrien for so long." She said, immediately going back to her own phone to send comforting messages to her bestie.

 _I know the feeling, Marinette._ Nino thought, giving the thumbs up to his buddy before locking his phone and putting it back in his pocket.

While their ride began to wind down, their car growing close and closer to the ground, Alya was beginning to grow more and more worried at the lack of responses she'd received from Marinette. She'd sent her 3 text messages and tried calling her once only to have it get sent to voicemail. She'd even tried Adrien's phone, but with no better luck.

As soon as the door to the suspended car opened, she was gone, down the ramp and pushing her way past people like a girl on a mission, Nino hot on her heels, barely keeping up. They weren't on the benches by the ferris wheel line, they weren't in the grass under the tree's, and they weren't by the lemonade stand just off the main path the speckled duo had used earlier.

After what felt like running around the entire garden, they'd finally made it back to the main fountain by the front gate. Still no Marinette or Adrien.

"Where is that girl?" Alya huffed, hitting speed dial on her phone to once again try calling her. Again, voicemail. With a scream of frustration, Alya locked her phone and stomped her foot. This was so annoying! What's the point of having phones if you don't answer them?

"Hey, I'm sure Adrien just gave her a ride home. He's cool like that." Nino tried to calm her down, but his heavy panting and stitch in his side probably wasn't making him seem all that reliable at the moment. But whatever he'd said did get her attention diverted elsewhere. More specifically, to the poor boy she'd been dragging all over creation for the past half hour.

"Yea, I'm sure that's all it is." Alya said, feeling guilty for Nino's current state. "Here, let's sit down." Moving to sit on the edge of the fountain, Nino gladly followed, happy for the chance to catch his breath for the first time all afternoon. If it wasn't the nerves trying to kill him, the exercise just might finish the job.

Nino took big gulps of air as he tried to steady his breathing, removing his hat to wipe at the sweat that had started to bead on his forehead with the back of his hand. God, he hoped his deodorant was holding up. The icing on the cake to this day would be him reeking like an old gym sock.

"Hey" Alya whispered. Knocking him out of his own personal roast, Nino looked at Alya. Her posture had rapidly changed, no longer the fiery force to be reckoned with, now she had her knees closed tight, her shoulders hunched and her hands gripping her phone in her lap like it was her last lifeline to salvation.

"Um, I…I just wanted to say…thanks." She started, looking at her lap while she spoke.

"I mean, I know I kinda lost my cool back there, but you didn't and that really helped. And what you said…earlier, well…" she lifted her gaze till their eyes met

"Thanks. You're pretty awesome yourself."

With their eyes locked, Nino couldn't but feel this was it. The moment. The right time for him to tell her how he feels. How he doesn't just think she's awesome, but that she's the most amazing, talented, beautiful, perfect, awesome person there is. He could do this. He wanted to do this.

"Alya?" He whispered. Slowly, while keeping her gaze, he felt the surge of courage he needed to lean forward.

"Yea?" She answered, not making a move to back away or run. This was about as good a time as any.

"I…I li—"

 ** _ELECTROPOP, HOT, AN ADDICTION THAT I CAN'T STOP_**

It was Marinette's ringtone! Alya immediately jumped up, answering her phone before the main verse was finished, the phone to her ear just as she heard a horrifying scream behind her, followed by a very large splash.

"Alya?" Marinette's weak voice asked from over the phone, obviously hearing the sounds instead of the usual ' _hello_ ' response.

"Oh my god, Nino! Are you ok?" Alya cried out. The momentum of Alya standing up so abruptly, paired with Nino's still exhausted muscles and poor reflexes had landed him back first into the fountain, soaked from head to toe.

"Alya? What's going on?" Marinette asked again, this time more worry in her voice. Adrien could be heard in the background, seemingly worried due to Marinette's reactions.

"Mari! Are you alright? Where are you?" Alya began firing off questions as fast as she could get the little half-chinese, half-french girl to answer. She learned that she had gotten sick because of the ferris wheel ride, or at least that was the story she was sticking to, and Adrien had offered to give her a ride home.

Unfortunately, the fast moving ride hadn't made the nauseous any better and they'd been forced to make a pit stop at a nearby restaurant, which is where they were now.

Meanwhile, Nino sat in the fountain, feeling horrible defeated and downright pissed off at himself. There was his moment, his perfect shining moment of glory, and he took a dive in a fountain. He'd almost wished he'd followed in Marinette's footsteps and just gotten sick on the ferris wheel, then at least he wouldn't be as pathetic as he was sure he looked right now.

Begrudgingly, he pulled himself out of the fountain, his shoes making that squishy sound when he stepped on the pavement, turning around to fish his hat out of the water before it drifted to far in to reach. He was not going back in the fountain for it, that was sure.

After Alya got a confirmation from Adrien that he'd see Marinette home, she hung up the phone and turned back to her soaked companion. Alya stifled a giggle, knowing now was not the time to be laughing, but she couldn't help but smile. Nino looked like a wet cat. His hair was sticking up all over, his glasses and hat had been removed and placed beside his feet on the ground, his normally slightly baggy t-shirt was stuck to his body, showing how skinny he really was.

Moving to take the seat beside him, Alya put her phone away in her bag before placing a hand on his shoulder, trying to sound as comforting as she could.

"Have a nice swim?" She said jokingly, but when she didn't get a response, she sobered up. So they couldn't just laugh this one off, huh? "Listen, it's not so bad, we can hail a taxi, or I can walk with you to the train station—"

"You don't get it! It's not about how I just took a dip in the fountain, it's this whole day! It—It wasn't supposed to be like this!" Having picked his hat up to ring the water from it, he threw it back down at his feet in frustration, scoffing a breath to himself as he did. This was the worst, absolute harshest day of his life.

"Nino?" Alya's voice was laced with concern, now aimed directly at him. She was worried over his change in attitude and over his blatant anger at his favorite cap. This wasn't like Nino, something was really getting to him.

"You don't….I just wanted this day to be perfect." He said, dejected, burying his head in his hands, his elbows balancing against his knees for support.

 _Perfect? But why would it need to be—Oh…_ Then it made sense. Everyone's weird behavior, Marinette's lies, Adrien enlisting Marinette's help with something, the trip to the gardens, the setup, everything.

The more Alya thought about, the more it made so much sense. How could she not have seen the signs? She's a reporter! This was supposed to be what she's good at. The glances Nino had been giving her all day, the way he talked about her, the way he would go above and beyond to make sure she felt respected, strong, iawesome/i. The warm feeling in her chest started to spread till she was sure it was showing on her face, her cheeks feeling warm.

Slowly, Alya raised a hand to Nino's shoulder. She felt him jump at the contact and couldn't help but giggle. Yea, so obvious, she must have been blind.

"I think it was great." She whispers, a small smile playing on her lips. She watched as his hands twitched over his face, his arms tensed slightly before relaxing, his shoulder lowering under her hand, no longer wound tight around his neck.

As he lifted his head out of his hands, turning his head to meet her gorgeous hazel-green eyes, eyes so full of caring and comfort and joy, he couldn't help but want it to be true. He needed it to be true.

"Really?" His voice was more hoarse than he expected, but he couldn't worry about that now, because as he stared into her eyes, he could have sworn they were getting closer. No, _she_ was getting closer.

And then, almost to prove his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, their lips met. They were softer than he'd ever imagined, and warm, and so soft, and they felt so perfect against his. Nino closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss just ever so slightly, afraid that if he moved, it'd end. But it didn't end. Alya took his movement as a green light for more and she obliged, pushing against him just a bit more forcefully.

She was surprised how amazing it felt, kissing Nino. Granted, it's not like she had anything to compare it to, this was her first kiss after all, but despite the cool temperature of his lips in the beginning, they were starting to warm up, and she wondered if she would melt against them. She wanted to find out, but against her wishes, the burning in her lungs was telling her that wasn't going to happen.

Using her hand on his shoulder, Alya broke the kiss apart, gasping for air like a fish out of water. Her whole body tingled and it felt like there was an electric charge where her hand still touched his wet shirt.

Licking her lips, she opened her eyes only to see Nino's dark chocolate eyes staring back at her, his lips red and slightly parted, his tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip just as she'd done herself. The movement was intoxicating and it practically dragged her back in for more till a child crying knocked her back to her senses.

 _Oh my god._ Alya thought, eyes wide as she took in their surroundings. They were still in the park, still sitting on the side of the fountain, in _public_. She'd just practically made-out with Nino _in public_!

"I—I should go." She says, sitting up and removing her hand from Nino's shoulder. Once the connection was cut, it was like Nino came back to life, realizing just as she had what had just transpired. He began to fidget, fussing with his hair and picking up his glasses and still soaked hat, squishing it onto his head and having a fresh stream of water run down his face.

Alya stood up, checked her bag for her phone, bus pass, and house keys, then checked herself to make sure she wasn't showing any obvious signs of having just been very firmly _kissed in the park_.

She took two steps away from the fountain towards the entrance, seeing a bus already coming down the main road, before she stopped dead in her tracks. She felt like she was running away. She didn't want to run, there wasn't a reason to run. It was amazing! With a quick glance, she could see Nino still fighting with ringing out his shirt hem. Without any other ideas, she turned around and cleared her throat loudly, easily catching his attention, his deep brown eyes look up at her through water spotted lenses.

"So, uh, yea. See you tomorrow." And with that, she turned back on her heel and ran for the bus. Ok, so maybe she was running, but she wasn't running from him, just from the blush that was slowly creeping down to her neck.

Barely making the bus doors before the closed, she took the nearest seat and fell into it, her chest heaving. Suddenly, a beep from her bag let her know of a new message. Grabbing the phone showed her Nino's face, and with a quick swipe to the right she could see the message clear as day.

 **N-** _see you tomorrow!_

Unable to control herself, she laughed out loud at the amount of exclamation marks and how just very _Nino_ the message was. Shaking her head with a smile, she locked her phone and put it safely back in her bag.

"What a dork."


End file.
